It states (Iyov 28:3) "He made an end to darkness..." The Midrash says that Hashem puts a limit to how long hardships and suffering will extend. This is for the individual, the community, and Klal Yisrael. When the time is up, the tzaros will end, and there will be happiness and joy.
A baal darshan told this story:
The innate nature of a Yid is to seek pleasure. The irreligious man in our story obviously didn't know about the joy of studying Torah and performing mitzvos; his pleasure came from being very involved in soccer games. He was a fan of a particular soccer team. Baruch Hashem, we don't know much about these games, but to explain the game's main points, a product of the old Greek culture: The game is played by two teams competing against one another. They play like children in kindergarten during recess. The spectators watch each move of the players with awe and passion. They watch how the players invest all their strength, concentration, and energy to catch the ball again and again without any purpose. The people watching are united, body and soul, with either one of the teams. When their group wins, they rejoice immensely. When their team loses, they become sad as though it were Tisha b'Av. In the privacy of their homes, they cry over the loss.
The person in our story was also deeply interested in this sport. One day, he heard about an important, big upcoming game. He was about to buy a ticket to the game, so he could be in the stands to watch the event, but then he remembered that his only brother was making a wedding for his only son on the night of the game.
The game was much more important to him than this momentous wedding, but for the sake of his elderly parents, he knew he had to be at the wedding. Disappointed, he resigned himself to his bitter fate of missing the game.
He couldn't eat or sleep for several days because it bothered him so much that he would miss this game. But then he came up with an idea. He asked his friend (who was foolish like himself) to take a camera and film the entire game, from beginning to end. That way, he could watch the game the following day, and not be completely disconnected from his life source.
The morning after the wedding, he awoke early and quickly hopped over to his friend's home to receive the disc of the game, so he could enjoy watching yesterday's game. (A game that intelligent people have absolutely no interest in. Yesterday's snow is more interesting to them.)
His friend poured salt on his wounds. He said, "Ay! Ay! You missed a great game! You have no idea how good this game was. But here's the disc. Our team won."
He returned home, gathered his wife and children around a table filled with refreshments, and watched the game. It was a disappointing game because the opposing team scored goal after goal. The family began mourning over the game, which they thought would end in a loss. Tears fell like water. But he sat at the table, totally calm, as he ate the sweet and salty refreshments on the table in abundance. It was as if the losses had nothing to do with him. His wife (who was like him) couldn't understand how he could be so calm when their team was losing the game. She said, "How can you just sit there nonchalantly when our team is losing? Don’t you have a heart?" He didn't even answer her. His wife began to cry, "Don’t you see what's happening? In ten minutes, the game is over, and we lost!"
The man replied, "Why don't you understand? My friend told me that today is a happy day because our team won. Wait a drop more and you will see that everything will turn around for our benefit. That's the reason I am not worried."
It states "We can learn lessons from the yetzer hara." From this story, we learn that when a person knows the future and that everything will be good, he isn't worried about the present. Sometimes things appear dark, such as when one loses money, suffers humiliation, has difficulty with shidduchim, has health problems, etc. He doesn't find respite. But if he knew that everything was being led from Above and there will be a happy ending, he wouldn't be upset and worried at all. He will remain calm and wait to see Hashem's salvation. He will wait to see how everything turns around and becomes good.
The Kobriner zt'l would say, "A Yid must believe that the darkness has an end. The darkness will dissipate, and in its place, there will be light."
He also explained the pasuk (Tehillim 116:10) in the following way: In the past, when I was poor, I believed that the time will come when I will tell people about my past, and I will tell them, that I used to be very poor.
Chazal say that one of the primary questions that will be asked when one goes up to heaven is "Did you hope for salvation?" Most people understand that this means, "Did you wait for the coming of Moshiach?" Reb Nosson Wachtfogel zt'l (Mashgiach of Lakewood) said in the name of the Chofetz Chaim zt'l, that the question isn't solely about the coming of Moshiach. The question is also for each individual. He will be asked whether he waited for the time that his problems would disappear and everything would be good for him (Kobetz Sichos vol.1 57).
The Gemara (Taanis 8.) says, "Whoever is happy with yesurim, this brings salvation to the world." How can a person be happy with his yesurim? The Ben Ish Chai (Ben Yehoyada) explains that when a person thinks that the yesurim is solely for a short time, and then it will pass, he can be happy with yesurim. This is hinted in the word yeshuah because this word is made up of two words: "woe" and "hour," which means the woe, the tzarah, is just for an hour, for a short time, and everything will pass. Chazal are saying that when one is happy with his yesurim because he believes the problem is solely for a moment and it will soon go away, he merits that there will be salvations for him and for the entire world.
The Chareidim (21:31) teaches, "We are obligated... that even when a person sees trouble approaching, he shouldn't lose hope from Hashem's rachamim. He should trust in Hashem's salvation."
Hashem Creates Healing
In birchas kriyas Shema, we say Hashem "creates healing," and it is written in the present tense. We don't say it in the past tense, "created healing." The Noam Eliezer (Skulen) zt'l explained that this teaches us that Hashem is presently creating new refuos and medications to heal people. Therefore, if doctors tell someone there is no cure for his illness, he shouldn't lose hope. Hashem can create a new cure for him. Hashem is constantly creating new refuos, and Hashem can create a refuah to heal this person from his illnesses.
